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BISHOP DOANE^S ADDRESS: 



THE YOUNG AMERICAN. 



HIS DANGERS, HIS DUTIESi HIS DESTINIES: 

THE ADDRESS, 

AT 

BURLINGTON COLLEGE, 

^i(i(j 4 1853, 

THE S E V E N T Y - S E V E N T II A N N I V E 11 S A R 1' 
OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE, 

AND THE SEVENTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FOUNDING OF BURLINGTON COLLEGE: 



RT. REV. GEORGE WASHINGTON DOANE, D.D., LL.D. 



PRESIDENT. 



INQUIRER PRESS, PHILADELPHIA. 
1853. 



IS 53 



BuuLiXGToN" College, ] 
1853. I 



Jiili/ 4th 

Kt. ViEv. AND Dear Sir: 

Upon the conclusion of your Address, delivered, this day, iu Burling- 
ton College, the undersigned were appointed a Committee, to wait upon, 
and request from you, a copy of the same, for publication. 

We trust, that, to the favour already conferred, you will .add that of com- 
plying with our request; in order that the many, not present upon this 
festive and instructive occasion, may be enabled to read, and meditate 
upon, the wise forecast displayed in the sage counsel, this day, afforded 
us. 

AVe remain, 

Witli sincere respect and affection, 
J. T. MoRTOx, 
w. k. montoomery, 
IIenrv C. Carey, 

CommUfee. 
Et. Rev. G. W. Doaxe, )8«irce unkmowu 
Bishop of New Jci-sei/, 



)OAXE, )' 

Itiixrsidc. ) 



THE FOURTH OF JULY, 

AT BURLINGTON COLLEGE. 



The anniversary of the National Independence had its customary 
welcome, at the College. The blessings, which the day commemorates 
were acknowledged, cordially, but quietly. Not without grateful re- 
cognition of the Academic birth day, which was seventy years behind 
the National. 

At nine, in the morning, the students assembled at Riverside, to con- 
gratulate the President. They were received by him on the Green 
Bank, in front of the Library, in the presence of the numerous family 
of St. Mary's Hall, and many friends of the neighbourhood, and from 
abroad. The following Address was made by Gideon J. Burton, of 
the Senior Class : 

Right Reverend President: 

Once more, we come, the children of your common care, on our coun- 
try's natal morn, to tender you the tribute of our gratitude and love. 
With more than usual pleasure, we greet your cheerful countenance 
and much loved form, to-day. In the dispensations of an all-wise Provi- 
dence, you have been separated from us, for a season: and we now re- 
joice at your restoration, with renewed health and vigour, we hope: as 
we know it is, with new, and more entire devotion, to your Herculean 
labours. 

We celebrate, to-da}', with more than twenty millions of freemen, the 
birthday of our liberty. We commemorate the anniversary of that 
morn, on which our brave forefathers flung forth to the winds of Heaven, 
that "Declaration," which made despots quake with fear, and tyrants 
tremble on their thrones. This day is fraught with sacred memories. 
It is to us, as Americans, the brightest of all days, the Queen of festi- 
vals. Seventy-seven years ago, on this day, those glorious words were 
uttered, which will re-echo, in never dying reverberations, to the utmost 
bounds of earth ; and that mighty work commenced, whose influence 
will be felt, "till the last syllable of recorded time." 

Thanks to the ovei'-ruling hand of a kind Providence, the return of 
this anniversary finds us at peace with one another, and with all the 
world. ]May it long continue so. IMay these anniversaries roll round, 
till they can be counted by centuries ; and find our country still the 



same. And may it ever be ours to advance the cause of liberty; not 
by the force of arms, but by the resistless power of influence. And 
this vast continent, from the everlasting hills of ice, which hem in the 
North, to the boundless ocean which surrounds the sunny South, shall 
become one grand temple of liberty. 

But, while we rejoice in the blessings of freedom, and recline beneath 
the broad tree of liberty, we do not forget those noble men, those daunt- 
less heroes, those self-sacrificing patriots, who have bequeathed to us 
this precious legacy. May their memories be entwined more closely 
about the fibres of our hearts, as their glory shines brighter and bright- 
er, on each returning anniversary of this day ! And, what is more than 
all, may the example of their stern virtues, their patient endurance, 
and self-denying toils, in the cause of liberty, lead us to follow in their 
steps; and make us duly prize that freedom, which we now enjoy. Let 
us not blind our ej'es to the dazzling light, which emanates from the 
immortal names of Adams, Jeiferson, Hancock, Henry, Hamilton, and 
every star in that bright constellation, which revolves around Wash- 
ington, as its great central Sun. When fiery fimaticism rages, and 
lawlessness abounds, in days of darkness and uncertainty, let us resort 
to them, as to our Delphi ; and, by their wise oracles, let us evermore 
abide. While we take them for our guides, and walk beneath their 
light, there is no fear for our country. 

But, Right lleverend Sir, we celebrate to-day a double festiv-al; the 
anniversary of our Independence and the founding of our College. 
We blend, to-day, in one, the twofold character of the Christian and 
the Patriot. It was a happy coincidence, that our College was first 
opened, on the birthday of our liberty. The same spirit which urged 
our brave forefathers, trusting to the Lord of hosts to establish this 
Republic, animated its open-hearted founder. Yes; with the same un- 
wavering faith, and trusting to the good cause, did you lay the founda- 
tion of a College, to bring up Christian freemen, to be "a bulwark of 
our Church and State." And, j'ear by year, have you, by precept and 
example, instilled into our minds the ennobling principles of true 
Christian patriotism. Nor have your labours been in vain. The pre- 
cious seeds which you have implanted in our bosoms, will hereafter 
bring forth their golden fruits. And, though you have 

"Fallen on evil days, and evil tongues, 
With dangers, and with darkness compassed round ;" 

"Bate" not "a jot 
Of heart, or hope, but still bear up, and steer 
Right onward." 

And may the reward of your patient endurance, and self-denying toils, 
be as rich as they deserve! 



The President replied, in substance, that he -was truly grateful for 
the cordial greetings, -which welcomed him, from his first recreation, to 
his accustomed labours, with new self-devotion. On what other day, 
could a College for the training up of Young Americans so fitly open 
its doors? Never, while he had charge of it, should the double celebra- 
tion fail of its observance ; and never, he trusted, while the world en- 
dured. He had seen the suggestion, that the celebration was all right; 
but why still read, from year to year, the Declaration of Independence? 
It was well meant, that thought, no doubt; but not so well considered. 
That was a historical document. It rehearsed wrongs which, then were 
real. It justified the Fathers of the Republic, in the bold ground which 
they then took, and kept. So far as the suggestion had been made in 
kindness to the Mother Country, he went as far as even the farthest. 
But he knew the English heart. It was an honest heart. It was a 
manly heart. And it liked us none the less for doing just as they 
would have done. The Declaration never must be left out, at Burling- 
ton College. 

After lusty cheers for the Right Reverend President, the Senior Ora- 
tor, and the Committee of Arrangements, the procession returned to 
the College. At one, the Declaration was read by J. C. Garthwaite, 
jun., of the Senior Class; and the President delivered his address 
before an audience, which more than filled the largest hall. The music, 
in the intervals, was excellent: as the name of Mr. Cross will testify. 
Mr. Dempster, by universal request, sang, in his inimitable manner, 
"The Star Spangled Banner," accompanied by the band, and the audi- 
ence joining heartily in the chorus ; and afterwards, "A man's a man, 
for a' that." When this was done, the Honourable John S. Littell, of 
Germantown, was called to the chair; and, on motion, a Committee, J. 
T. Morton, Esq., Col. Montgomery, and Henry C. Carey, Esq., was ap- 
pointed to request of the Bishop a copy of his Address, for publication. 
In putting this motion, JVIr. Littell made an animated and eloquent ad- 
dress, concluding with the following sentiment, which he hoped would 
be received with the ardent greetings, which the name had lately wa- 
kened, at an English University : 

"George Washington Doane, D. D., LL.D., President and Founder of 
Burlington College; Founder, also, and Rector of St. Mary's Hall; Bi- 
shop, Statesman, Poet: the Wykeham of his country, no Ic&s by his 
achievements, than his wrongs. Pahnam, qui meruit ferat 1" 



\ 



6 

Tlie reception was as cordial as the mover's generous heart could have 
desired: his eldest son, an alumnus of the College, leading the "Three 
times three." 

The guests proceeded, then, by invitation of the Committee — Thomas 
W. Ryall, J. Watson Webb, Jr., John F. Mines, and Henry 0. Clagett, 
whose admirable arrangements received universal commendation — to 
the Refectory of the College; where an excellent collation, beautifully 
served, and cordially appreciated, closed a most agreeable day. 

In the evening, as we learn, the Alumni present held a meeting — the 
Rev. Professor Doane, of the Class of 1850 (the first) in the Chair, and 
Mr. Hobart Chetwood, of the Class of 1851, Secretary — when arrange- 
ments were made for the organization of An Altmni Association; and 
for an annual celebration, on the day before the Commencement, Sep- 
tember 28. Mr. George jNI. Miller, of the Class of 1850, was appointed 
orator: and Mr. Hobart Chetwood, his substitute. God speed the offi- 
cers, Alumni and under-graduates, of Burlington College! 



THE YOUNG AMERICAN. 

It cannot be questioned, for a moment, that there are geo- 
graphical responsibilities. Peculiarities of position, peculia- 
rities of climate, peculiar political institutions, historical 
peculiarities create, continue, and enforce, local relations and 
national duties ; in a word, geographical responsibilities. 
It is the sentiment of that old Laconian adage, *' 'Eiia^Tav 
e/la^fS' ravrav xocTuel.'^ SjMrta is your birth-place : make 
it your pride to honour it. It kindled in St. Paul's great heart, 
when, to the chief captain at Jerusalem, who gloried in the 
Roman citizenship, which he had obtained, for "a great sum," 
he answered, with sublime sententiousness, "But I was born 
free!" And, how it blazed, in those few burning words, 
which old Hugh Latimer spoke, to his brother Bishop, at the 
stake, " Be of good cheer, Master Ridley, and play the 
man ; we shall this day light such a candle, by God's grace, 
in England, as shall never be put out." It is the very spirit 
of Avhat David sang to his angelic harp, in that proudest 
pgean, which patriotism ever prompted: "Jerusalem is built 
as a city, that is at unity in itself." " 0, pray for the peace 
of Jerusalem ; they shall prosper, that love thee. Peace be 
within thy walls, and plenteousness within thy palaces. For 
my brethren and companions' sakes, I will wish thee pros- 
perity." The sentiment, of which I speak, with its resulting 
duties and responsibilites, is as true of America, as it ever 
was of Sparta, Rome or England. I shall not be extravagant 
to claim for it a deeper and a truer truth ; more stringent and 
more urgent. For, in the first place, the accountability of 
every nation is in exact proportion to its capacity for influ- 
ence, with other nations. And, in the second place, the whole 
amount of a nation's responsibilities is distributed among its 
citizens, in the exact ratio of their several capacities for in- 
fluence. The chronological position of this nation among 



the tides of time; its geographical situation, between the two 
great oceans, bridging the space which separates them ; its 
vast extent; its various and infinite resources; the expan- 
sive nature of its free institutions; with the immense ma- 
chinery, which science puts at its command, through steam 
and magnetism combine to confer on it an influence, which 
never yet has been attained by any nation: combine, there- 
foi-e to lay on us, who are its citizens, an individual respon- 
sibili ty, yhich never fell before on the inhabitants of any 

sT.7;''- 1 PT'';*'"^'^' '"^^ ^'''^ '' l^^k this serious 
ubjectfturlyin the face. It is the day to do it: foritis the 
anniversary of that, which, seven-and-seventy years ago, first 
made America, a name among the nations. ' It is the ;iace 
to do It : for here we train up young Americans. More than 
enough we have all heard of " Young America." I come 
to speak to you, my friends, of You.yg Americans. ',\ The 
theme of my discourse, to-day, will be • 

THE YOUNG AMERICAN; 

HIS DANGERS, HIS DUTIES, AND HIS DESTINIES. 

I. Young people do not like to hear of dangers; for the very 
reason that they are more exposed to them, and are least 
competent to meet them. But their elders must be faith- 
ul ; and, at the risk of being regarded tedious, must forewarn 
them of the perils of their lot. Especially, must I be faith, 
tul to the loung Americans, who are assembled here: hon- 
oured, as I have been, with the most sacred trust that human 
life confers; and held, as I am, by all the pledges of a man, 
a father, and a Bishop, to train them up, as patriots and 
thristians. 

i. The most immediate danger of the Young American is 
over-estimation of Mmsdf. It is incident to a youn-. nation 
It IS incident to a prosperous nation. It is especiallylncident 
to a nation, so prosperous, while it is yet so youna. There 
IS a moral atmosphere developed in such circumstances, akin 
to what the chemists call the nitrous-oxide, or exhilarating 



9 

gas. It mounts into every head, and lifts it quite above it- 
self. The nation is run away with by it. It touches the 
grave statesman, and the hero of a hundred fights. We boast 
instinctively. We are born, boasting. It cannot be that 
young men will not catch the epidemic of the nation ; and 
run riot, in self-esteem and self-reliance. There is no ten- 
dency more dangerous, as there is none more disagreeable. 
True greatness lives with deep humility. The best exponent 
of a man, for deeds of valour and of enterprise, is that of our 
gallant Miller ; when, directed to a desperate attempt, by his 
commander, he replied, " I'll try, sir !" And he did it. The 
Young Americans, whom I address, I earnestly exhort, to 
watch themselves, in this behalf; and to chastise this over- 
weening estimate of self. A quiet moderation is the surest 
token of the greatest moral energy. You see it in that greatest 
man of modern times, who was, for half a century, the bul- 
wark of his country's greatness ; and whom a weeping nation 
buried, but the other day, beneath the dome of old St. Paul's : 
her Wellington, beside her Nelson. You see it, even more con- 
spicuous, in our greater Washington. Scrutinize his career, 
criticise his letters, anatomize his character. You cannot find 
one trace of self-conceit. You cannot find one trait of self- 
reliance. To his well-balanced greatness, his wise humility, 
his true heroic modesty, we owe, through God, our freedom 
and our power. The qualities that won them are the quali- 
ties to keep them ; and to make them fruitful through the 
world and through the ages, in blessings on mankind. 

ii. A kindred danger, the result of this, to which the Young 
American is liable, is haste. The progress of this nation 
has been so rapid, that time has seemed to be of no import- 
ance to it. And, then, the whole machinery of the age aims, 
as near as may be, at its annihilation. But this is very dan- 
gerous. When God made the world, He made it in six days. 
It might have sprung as instantaneous as the light. And, 
when He would complete the plan of its redemption, He 
took four thousand years for the developement of that, which, 
in the counsels of the Godhead, was complete, before the 



10 

Fall. These are lessons to our hearts. No real o;reatness 
is spontaneous. The oak is not the monarch of the woods, short 
of a thousand years. And man, the monarch of the world, 
is first an embryo; and then an infant; and then a child; 
and has half-measured his allotted years, before he is full 
grown. Iso matter in what it is — in letters, in science, in 
art, in war, in government, in anything that is to be for real 
greatness — time must be taken ; and deliberate thought and 
patient labour be employed. Think of the studies of Sir 
Isaac Newton. Think of the touches of Raphael, Think 
of the chisel of Canova. See, by what lengthened process, 
Rome grew up to be the mistress of the world. Contemplate 
the slow march of England's greatness. And remember how 
the Fathers of our Republic w^aited and watched, and toiled 
and prayed, before the hour was reached, that consecrates this 
day. And, then, pursue their blood-stained footsteps, through 
the seven years' war, by which the issues of that hour were 
consummated and made perpetual. The Young American 
that would do justice to his name, must learn to wait. What 
he can do well off-hand, he can do better with deliberation. 
There is no royal road to real greatness ; and, if there were, 
republicans should not adopt it. We have greater issues, in 
our hands, than ever came before the Congress at Vienna. 
And they are in our hands ; with only God above us. Here, 
only, of all nations of the world, the voice of every man may 
be potential. And, on us, it is incumbent, above all other 
nations, to aim at doing the most, not only, but at doing it the 
best, I j The Young American must study. The Young Ame- 
rican must work. The Young American must wait. He 
must not hasten to be wise, or to be rich, or to be great. 
God never hastens. '''•Patiens, quia eternus.'' Patient, be- 
cause eternal. ] / 

iii. The third of the peculiar dangers of the Young Ameri- 
can, and the last, that I shall now mention, is the tendency to 
violence. From liberty to license, though as utterly unlike as 
light and darkness, the progress is too easy, and too rapid. 
The over-estimate of self, the impatience of time, the strong 



11 

arm, with blood upon the hand : these are the natural steps to 
recklessness and ruin. It is a sad confession, that our na- 
tional character has rushed, with fearful haste, to this red, 
ruthless, refuge of our maddened nature. Not a day, that 
does not bring to us the record of some deed of blood.. I do 
not speak of midnight murders, and the violence of drunken 
and licentious brawls : but of the fierce outbreak of the pas- 
sions, among those Avho, by the hostages which they have 
given to life ; the trusts which they are holding for their 
kind ; the leading men of the republic — its statesmen, its 
judges, its senators — arc responsible for the best example and 
the holiest influence. I mean no sectional reflection. If the 
destructive tendency, of which I speak, prevails more in some 
quarters than in others, it is common, everywhere ; and is 
spreading, from the focus, all around. And, wherever it pre- 
vails, it is in dereliction of the same social duties and reli- 
gious obligations ; and ruinous alike to our national cha- 
racter, and to our political institutions. Nor does the evil 
rest in private circles, or confine itself to streets and neighbuor- 
lioods. It infects the councils of the Republic. It embarrasses 
the deliberations of the Cabinet. It threatens to involve the 
nation, and perplex the world. It is an evil of the greatest 
magnitude. It needs our utmost vigilance, our best exer- 
tions, our most fervent prayers. Especially, must it be urged 
on Young Americans to keep themselves from violence and 
blood. There is a tiger, in our fallen nature, which is ever 
ready to rush on to rapine. It must be watched, and 
curbed, and crucified, and killed : or it will have its wild, 
mad way. ' | Youth is the time to meet and mortify this fearful 
evil. The' brawling and contentious boy will harden into the 
man of butchery and blood. The meek, the gentle, the pa- 
tient, the self-controlled, in youth, will be the firm, the fear- 
less, the indomitable, in manhood. ) jSueh David was ; and 
such was Washington. 

II. i. It is the DUTY of the Young American to cultivate Ms 
. mind, to the full extent of his best opportunities ; not suffer- 
ing his physical strength to he neglected and impaired. No- 



12 

•where, as in America, is general intelligence so accessible, 
and so influential. Nowhere, is ignorance so disgraceful, and 
so dangerous. All, it is true, cannot attain to what is justly 
called a liberal education. But there is opportunity for some 
degree of it, to all. The only limit should be the opportu- 
nity. And, for the most part, the resolved nature makes its 
opportunities. There is a tendency among u^ to lower the 
standard of education. There is a fallacy, even in places 
w^here one would not think to find it, that, by aiming lower, 
and spreading out more widely, a greater result will be ob- 
tained. As if the broad, low wash, that sleeps so sluggishly 
in Holland, w^ere as available for healthful use, and whole- 
some distribution, as the fresh springs of our Alleghenian 
ranges. As if the streams of learning, any more than streams 
of water, would run up above their source. Rely upon it, to 
depress the grade of learning, is to weaken its power, and 
lessen its influence. Smattering comes of it, and superficial- 
ness, and sciolism. To bring together the most favoured, and 
the least, level these up, rather than bring those down. Where 
the colleges attain the highest reach of useful learning, the 
academies will come the nearest, and the common schools do 
best. In the first place, you can command the ablest teachers ; 
and, in the second, you ofier the greatest stimulus. "What is of 
easy acquisition is of light appreciation. Difficulty stimulates 
exertion. The mushroom comes up, in the night : but never is 
more than a mushroom. ^ . Let the Young American labour for 
the highest education he can reach : at college, if he can get 
there ; if not, at the best school. When there is no school 
for him, there is Franklin's garret above him, and Franklin's 
example before him.y, The great Samuel Lee, Professor of 
Arabic, in the University of Cambridge, was a journeyman 
carpenter. But he loved learning; and he pursued it, as 
lovers do. When he had earned enough, he bought a book : 
when he had mastered it, he sold it, and procured another ; 
and so on. And he became among the most distinguished of 
the learned men of Europe. It is a lesson which every one 
may learn, and every one apply : and with so much more 



13 

ease at tins time, when books are so accessible and cheap. 
Only, let the Young American eschew the light and fashion- 
able reading of the day. The best of it is syllabub and sugar 
candy. Too much of it is arsenic and prussic acid. 

It is a fault of Young Americans, to neglect, and so abuse, 
their physical constitution : and, unhappily, it is not confined 
to the industrious student. The hours of recreation, when 
the mind should be relieved, and the body invigorated, are 
given to the last novel : and health and strength are wasted, 
while the mind is diluted, and the moral principle perplexed, 
if not perverted. Our English scholars set a good example 
to the Young American. The brisk and animating walk, 
the athletic cricket ground, the contest of the oar : these are 
the tonics of their vigorous arm ; these the developements of 
their broad, manly chest ; these the cosmetics of their fresh 
and glowing cheek. 

ii. It is the duty of the Young American to imbue himself 
with theprincijjles of the Constitution. Party divisions are the 
danger of our day ; and parties, now, no more for principles, 
but for the spoils. It is a mortifying thing, to say that our 
present administration, to which I cheerfully accord my unre- 
serving confidence, has spent more time, and taken more 
trouble, in the distribution of the ofiices under the govern- 
ment, than in considering the domestic interests and foreign 
policy of the country. I do not lay it to them, as an admin- 
istration. It is the sin and shame of the times. Govern- 
ment has really come to be considered as an institution to 
distribute patronage. And, this, in six-and-sixty years. I 
seriously regard it as the most disgraceful and most danger- 
ous error of the age. Unless it be reformed, it will first cor- 
rupt, and then destroy, the republic. The remedy for it is 
in the simple, earnest, child-like reference to the Consti- 
tution. I do not think it a misuse of sacred history, to 
say, this is the wood by which the bitter waters of our 
Marah must be sweetened. Ofiices, indeed, there must be, 
to carry on a government : but ofiice is the instrument, alone ; 
and they who hold it, but the incidents. The end is the public 



14 

-virtue and the public happiness. The human means, the 
faithful application of the principles of our incomparable 
Constitution. Such, of a truth, it is. A legacy from our 
forefathers, scarcely second to the freedom, which enabled 
them to make it; and to perpetuate which it was made. Let 
the young American study the Constitution. Let him acquaint 
himself with its history.*/iLet him imbue himself with its prin- 
ciples; let him contemplate them in action, as they were 
seen and felt, in Adams, Hancock, Franklin, Washington. 
And let him resolve to live by it, as they did ; and, if need 
be, to die for it, as they were prepared to do. So shall it be 
worth while to be Americans. So shall the name of Youns 
American go down to after ages, "an inheritance forever." 
And so shall other names and other nations, while they admire 
our virtues, be emulous of our example ; until American shall 
be the watchword and the war-cry of true liberty, throughout 
the world. 

iii. It is the duty of the young American to aim at the higli- 
^est moral excellence. The utmost learning, that the longest 
life could realize, would fail to make a man. Nor is it in the 
power, even of our incomparable Constitution, to make or 
keep men free. 

" lie is a freeman, whom the Truth makes free ; 
And all are slaves, besides." 

Temper, passion, lust, avarice, revenge : these, and the like, 
are the enslavers of our race. Look at Antony, in the arms 
of Cleopatra. Look at Napoleon, among the rocks of St. 
Helena. Look at the Shylocks, who have shut their souls up in 
their iron chests. Look at the petty tyrants, who make their 
homes, hells, to themselves, and all that groan under their 
sway. The freeman must have conquered, first, himself. 
The love of money, the love of honour, the love of pleasure, 



^, 



*' I cannot deny myself the pleasure of alluding to the admirable 
Address, before the Constitutional Convention of New Jersey, by the 
I [on. Richard Stockton Field. I have already challenged him to pro- 
duce from his rich store a volume, for our young men. It should be the 
EtELD-Book of the Constitution. 



15 

are instincts of our fallen nature, and tramplers on the ruins 
of its fall. The young American, who would do just honour 
to his noble name, must vindicate himself from these. He 
must subdue his passions ; he must control his tempers ; he 
must regulate his desires. " Whatsoever things are true, 
whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, j 
whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, \ 
whatsoever things are of good report: if there be any •' 
virtue, and if there be any praise," he must " think on these 
things." 

iv. And, that all these things maybe so, since otherwise they 
cannot be ; it is the duty of the young American to sa7ic- 
tify liimself, his attainments, and his opportunities, by reli- 
gious principles, professed and acted on. All other hopes and 
uses are in vain, to these great ends. " It is not in man that 
walketh, to direct his steps. To purchase freedom for the 
race, the redemption of the Cross was necessary. To achieve 
the freedom of the individual, the sanctification of the 
Spirit must be added. That is of universjd truth which David 
says: "Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? 
Even by taking heed thereto, according to Thy word." The- 
young American that is not " the child of God," must disrj 
appoint the hopes of his inheritance, towards others ; and find' 
them disappointed in himself. The wood, the hay, the stub- 
ble, the earthly, the human, the mortal, called by whatever 
name, will perish in the fire, by which our nature must be 
tried. Only the gold, the pure, the virgin gold, will bear the 
fiercest furnace ; and come purer from the flame. To dare to bel 
religious, in an evil world, is the true daring of the soul.jj 
And to confess the Crucified and bear His Cross, in meekness, 
but in unshrinking firmness, among men, is to subdue the 
world, and conquer by that sign. 

III. Who shall attempt to sketch the destinies of young 
Americans, who shall avoid these dangers, and discharge, in 
good fidelity, these duties to their country and their kind ? 
Suppose this picture could be realized, but in the little band, 
who gather in these walls. Suppose that you, my children, 



16 

could go forth from these academic shades of patriotism and 
pietj, to be the Young Americans, whom I have drawn. What 
firmer compact, than the Macedonian phalanx ever reached. 
What steadier progress. What more glorious victory ! And, 
should it be so, and the banner which you raise, where the dear 
Cross should sanctify the Stars and Stripes, become the ral- 
lying flag of Young Americans, throughout the land, what 
measure to the influence for good. What limit to the power 
to bless ! Think of the time, when you are called to being 
and to duty. Think of the land, where God has cast your lot. 
Think of the Constitution, and the principles, of which you are 
to become the trustees for your kind. ' The stage of life, 
upon which you enter, is a continent. The guns, which 
ushered in this morning, rolled their thunders, from the At- 
lantic to the Pacific. The Star-spangled Banner, which is 
unfurled, to-day, is Avreathing itself into a rainbow ; which rests 
upon two oceans, and encompasses a hemisphere. What 
lands are to be peopled ! What seas, what bays, what lakes, 
are to be traversed ! What rivers are to be bridged ! W^hat 
mountains are to be tunneled ! What myriads are to be taught ! 
What millions are to be saved ! Sec how our Commerce is 
extending, to the Southern half of this great Continent, the 
principles of our institutions, and the influence of our man- 
ners. See how the Chinamen are meeting us, half way, at 
San Francisco. See how the Commerce of all Europe and all 
Asia is settling upon our Republic, as the channel for its tran- 
sit, or the mart for its accumulation. See how the heathen 
hordes of the whole Eastern world are opening for us the 
way to preach to them the Gospel of Salvation, and to out- 
value to them "the wealth of Ormus and the Inde," by 
"the unsearchable riches of Christ." See, too, how, at this 
great juncture, in commerce and religion, the arts are 
tasked, the elements are chained, the powers of Heaven are 
enlisted, to overcome all difiiculties, and make impossibilities 
possible.VWhat a field for energy, for enterprise, for valour! 
What a field for the triumphs of science, the trophies of civili- 
zation, the conquests of the Cross ! What a field, what a 



17 

boundless field, what a glorious field, for young Americans ! 
Gird up your loins, dear children of my hearth and heart, to 
enter in, and occupy it. "Be sober, be vigilant;" "quit 
you like men, be strong." /( Lead on, in Christ's name, and 
for His Church, the vanguard of the march of civil and re- 
ligious freedom. Remember the Cross upon your brow. Be 
mindful of the Bible in your hands. Go to be comforts to 
your homes, and blessings to your country, and lights to your 
age. 'Go, to be freemen of the Cross, and patterns of your 
times, in patience, and peacefulness, and purity. Go, and ap- 
prove yourselves, in patriotism and piety, as worthy to be 
Young Americans. 



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